The benefit of a trustworthy face to a financial services provider

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate three information sources for their influence on trust and patronage intent toward an unmet financial services advisor. The sources were facial appearance, credentials and social information about the provider. Trust in an unmet provider is believed to be important because financial services are transitioning to an online customer interface.Design/methodology/approachIn the two experiments, facial appearance (trustworthy versus less trustworthy), credentials (high versus low) and social information (cooperative versus less cooperative) were tested for their influence on cognitive trust, affective trust, patronage intent and amount of money to entrust to an unmet financial advisor.FindingsIn Study 1, both facial appearance and credentials significantly affected patronage intent. The effect of facial appearance was mediated through affective trust, and the effect of credentials was mediated through cognitive trust. In Study 2, both facial appearance and social information significantly affected patronage intent. Unexpectedly, respondents’ gender exhibited a highly significant main effect and interaction (ordinal) with the face cue for patronage intent.Research limitations/implicationsThe experimental context was restricted to an unmet financial advisor. Interaction with an actual provider would likely change the perception of affective trust. Also, all depicted and described advisors were men; the effect of provider gender was not investigated.Originality/valueFindings indicate that a personal photo on a business card may either increase or decrease patronage intent. Conversely, communicating credential achievement or an evidence of civic engagement to prospective clients has a favorable effect on patronage intent.